bg1 just has better pacing too. you get ejected into the wilderness and it's random shit + rural stuff + small villages/towns until you get into THE CITY towards the end. it feels significant.

and some of the best parts of bg1 are the random maps with no connection to anything. in bg2, you have 1) the tedious starting dungeon 2) immediately being dumped into an overwhelming city 3) all the rural areas are strictly the quest areas